Life expectancy in Britain has increased at a slower rate than most of our European neighbours – thanks to our poor record on cancer survival and high levels of obesity.

An international report has found that despite the billions of pounds poured into the NHS by Labour, British patients have fared much worse than those across the Channel.

Survival rates for breast, bowel and cervical cancer are among the worst in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents industrialised nations.

Poor record: A women undergoes a breast cancer scan. Britain's low survival rates for some forms of the disease are partly to blame for a slower increase in life expectancy in the UK compared to Europe

Not got to grips with it: The UK's poor performance is also down to our high levels of obesity which lead to many deadly conditions like heart disease

This comes despite the fact that Britain spends more than the average OECD country on health.

The organisation’s report found that the average Briton enjoys an extra 9.6 years of life than they did in 1960. But this is far less impressive than the rise of 12 years seen in Italy and Spain.

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Mark Pearson, head of the social policy unit at the OECD, said: ‘Perhaps the problem is that the UK has been complacent in the past – so convinced that the NHS is the right model, that we stopped looking at whether we are doing well or badly.

‘Now governments have started to focus on why it may be that the UK is doing a poor job on cancer.

‘The UK’s poor performance could also be down to the influence of alcohol and obesity kicking in. The UK simply has not got a handle on these. Cancer care has also been a problem in Britain: the UK performs poorly on cancer survival.

‘The NHS has done all the things we can think of to improve the situation, and perhaps these things have not yet had an effect.’

Beleaguered in the league: A table showing the UK's performance in relation to life expectancy for women compared with other industrialised countries

The OECD’s report, Healthcare at a Glance, also found:

Consumption of alcohol has soared in Britain over the past few decades – at a time when it has plummeted in most of Europe;

UK men are still the fattest in Europe, although British women have been overtaken in the obesity stakes by Ireland;

British doctors carry out fewer consultations than they did ten years ago.

The study revealed the average Briton can expect to live to 80.4 – 14th in the OECD. This is below most other European countries, and almost two years less than Switzerland on 82.3.

No effect: Government campaigns to curb excessive drinking like this one in 2006 have clearly failed as the report says alcohol consumption has soared over the past few decades

The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan (83).

British women can expect to live to the age of 82.5 – up 8.8 years in the past 50 years, but lower than any country in Western Europe except Denmark.

Men have a life expectancy of 78.3 years – up 10.4 years.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said last night: ‘Labour let down patients by focusing only on narrow targets and not on results.

‘This Government will focus on what really matters – delivering great care and great results for patients.’